The Other Shoe

Ever hear the phrase, "Waiting for the other shoe to drop"? If you haven't, basically it's used when everybody who's heard/seen one thing knows for sure another thing is coming. It's pretty closely related to the whole "good news/bad news" idea. Once you hear one, you know you're going to hear the other. (If you wan't to know the whole entertaining origin story, click here.) 

I think I can say that church goers and Christ followers alike are often waiting for "the other shoe" to drop. Here's what I mean: pastors preach that Christ died for their sins and that God loves them unconditionally. This is radically good news, and at churches that preach this message faithfully amazing things happen! But then what often follows is significantly less radical. In fact, I think it's safe to say that many churches and leaders are not sure what to do or preach next. The result is often ministry plans that seem related less to the in-breaking Kingdom of God proclaimed by Jesus Christ, and related more to the latest (and, just as likely, already stale) management/organizational/motivational techniques taught by whoever's having the most success at any given moment. 

Over the past few weeks and months an interesting theme has been coming up in my life directly tied to all this. I think it started with a couple of books that were on my desk: Crazy Love by Francis Chan and The Spirit of the Disciplines  by Dallas Willard. Both of these books stressed the idea that salvation wasn't a one time event, that God's grace was never meant to lead to passivity among followers of Christ. In fact, followers of Christ should be defined by just that: following Christ actively and radically in their daily lives. 

Then I had a meaningful and thought provoking conversation with a fellow pastor about grace and discipleship. If I understood him correctly, his argument was that if you study scriptures honestly, you will find that they themselves argue that discipleship is a key ingredient in salvation. He went as far as to argue that we could lose our salvation if we chose not to grow in our knowledge of Christ nor actively follow him. I had a problem with what I saw as linking our salvation to our works, but nevertheless he made a strong point: that scripture does not mince words when it comes to discipleship. "I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot...So, because you are lukewarm...I will spit you out of my mouth...Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne." (Revelation 3:20-22) Regardless of whether you want to argue that a rejection of discipleship means a rejection of God's grace, it's clear that the Biblical witness argues that discipleship is an essential part of being a follower of Christ. 

These, plus a few other factors and conversations that I've had, have led me to see what "the other shoe" has got to be for ministry: it's got to be growing in our Christ-likeness. It's got to be a serious commitment to helping each member of Christ's body follow Christ everywhere and at every time. At the end of Willard's book, he argues that each pastor/ministry must evaluate themselves based on whether they are truly and effectively helping people to grow in their Christ-likeness. I agree. Not in addition to or in place of, but as part of proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, United Life must be about making disciples of Jesus Christ. 

Listen, I've known this in my head forever. But it's starting to really sink in right now. I look around and I see so many young Christians who know everything they need to know, but whose lives and faith are still floundering. And the one key element that I can see missing for all of them is the fact that they have never been seriously discipled. They have never been seriously challenged to hear Christ calling them not only to receive God's grace, but to truly and steadily become like him. They have never been told that this is an essential part of following Christ. 

It's time to start.